For our second COVID-19 Zoom service, Erica Nellessen preached to us from Mathew 15:21-28 — a passage about a Canaanite woman, which it turns out is a significant phrase in itself. this is a disruptive story. It’s in your face. Some of Jesus’ actions here are confusing at best and violent and racist at worst. But this is an encounter that disrupts our view of who Jesus is, who his followers are and how the kingdom operates. It’s a story that I had never heard preached in all my years in the church. It’s been avoided for a reason. But here we are talking about the messy Jesus and the woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer. The post The Canaanite Woman appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

For our first Sunday of Lent, Lila Hunt spoke to Matthew 4:18-22, and the version of calling of the first disciples that this gospel presents. Referencing her history with the passage, and where her interpretation in the past had led her, she wanted to take a new look at the passage from a lens on the actions of Jesus in the passage, as he walks by the sea of Galilee. What if we were to take a closer look at the human side of Jesus — walking in the presence of God, sensitive to God's voice, and entering into conversation with the fisherman that he meets? And how might this view of God's presence in the ordinary moments and tasks of our lives influence our ability to hear his call? How could it impact our perceptions of this season of Lent? The post Jesus in the Ordinary Sacred Spaces appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

On February 16th, Rob Muthiah spoke from Acts 2:1-12; 37-42; and 16:1-5 in the context of the the outpouring of God’s love and the expansive and inclusive nature of God’s mission. But somewhere along the way, the church in the West began to develop and live into a different vision. A new way of understanding who God wanted to bless began to emerge. And a new way of relating people to one another began to unfold, a schema that assigned value to people based on a color scale. The church in this country has been baptized into a colorized racist paradigm, and we would be foolish to believe that this colorized baptism is no longer in play today. But there is a different type of baptismal consciousness also available to the church today if we will but have eyes to see and ears to hear. The post The Color of Racism and the Color of Baptism appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

Pastor Tim Reardon preached last Sunday from 1 Cor 1:18-2:5. This is a passage on the message, or Word, of the cross. While, in the Gospels, Jesus tells his followers to pick up their crosses, here, Paul focuses on Jesus’s cross and how that changes us, saves us, reorders us, undoes us, nullifies our pretense and makes us into something new. While the message to pick up our crosses and follow behind Jesus is important, even central and defining, today we remember that we are not Jesus (you’re welcome if I just relieved you of that burden) and what the cross represents is not a confirmation of our own thoughts about justice, our own theology, but is rather a mystery, a mystery, like the wilderness, that calls into question everything we are and remakes us in Jesus. The post Word of the Cross appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

On February 2nd, Rae Huang spoke to John 3:13-17, beginning with her introduction to John 3:16 as a child. And though it still holds meaning for her in her Christian journey, her view of the passage, as a pastor and community organizer working in interfaith circles, has changed rather radically. Hear as Rae fleshes out the gospel of community: a world where we all belong and are all loved. Listen to how these verses might speak to us today as we grapple with what it looks like to be the Beloved Community — where salvation and blessings belong to us all. The post Communal Salvation, the message of John 3:16 appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

On January 12th, Tim Reardon preached from Luke 7:24-30 and Acts 2:40-47. He brought in John the Baptist from Luke and the community of Acts 2 — both for the welcoming of new members and a baptism we celebrated that day, and for our upcoming Consecration Sunday, the day we make our annual commitments of time, talents, and finances for the year ahead. The post What Did You Go Out to the Desert to See? appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

For Epiphany Sunday, January 5th, Mariann Reardon talks about the variety of Epiphany scriptural traditions of addressing Christ's introduction to the world, accompanied by cultural traditions. PMC has a tradition, begun by the Sanctuary ministy, which sponsored an Epiphany service, giving the opportunity to reflect on Christ's coming into the world and guiding us through darkness and into the light of God — a theme that resonates in meaningful ways with the LGBTQ Christian community. The legacy of this ministry illuminated the path for our congregation to adopt our posture and policy of inclusion, affirmation and welcome affirmed in 2017. This morning, we carry forward our tradition of the co-creation of the sacred epiphany space in which we acknowledge, honor and celebrate our LGBTQ family and friends — those here with us now, those throughout the world, and those throughout time. The post Illuminations appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

On the 4th Sunday of Advent, Tim Reardon preached from Isaiah 7:10-16 and Matthew 1:18-25. “The day is dawning and we have hope in a savior, our brother, Jesus, the Messiah, our guide, true God, true light, who teaches the way of peace, who unfolds for us the mystery of God’s kingdom, that we may find healing and walk in God’s justice and joy.” Tim continues, Advent is coming to a close, and amid the darkness of the night, and our moments of calling out to God, it is good and proper for us to rejoice, just as it is good and proper to mourn—and it is good for us to be present with each other in our joy and mourning. The virgin is with a child, a son, and they will call him, Emmanuel, God is with us. The post God With Us appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

Melissa Hofstetter continued our Advent journey by looking at Matthew 11: 2-11. She begins: I don’t know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with ambivalence. (…Mixed feelings about mixed feelings) Can any of you relate? More likely, it’s maybe that I have a love-hate relationship with Adventing — not with Christmas per se, or the Spirit of Giving, but mixed feelings about the Advent that is our lives. The Advent that we journey through as we wait for the fullness of the Kingdom’s in-breaking. There’s just so much “NOT-YET,” mixed in with all the very real NOW — of Christ’s Reign here on earth. The post Waiting in the Dark for Glimpses of Joy appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.

Continuing in Advent, Dotti Ozolins begins with her own family history of learning to wait for God... These stories are richly ingrained in my psyche and my identity. My name itself means “gift from god” and is a reflection of my mother’s long history of infertility. They were on their last round of treatment and looking into adoption when they found out they were pregnant with me. This began the family belief that hard things come but miracles happen. “What is God waiting for?” is an eschatalogical, Kingdom, capital-Q Question that I think we can all find ourselves asking sometimes. It’s theodicy, the question of why a good God allows good people to suffer. It’s the question of why systems have continued to perpetuate violence and racism and poverty and sexism and homophobia. Believing in the Kingdom of Heaven insists that we trust that the God of the Universe will make wrongs right, will burst in to heal our brokenness and pain. The post What is God Waiting For? appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.